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I have been thinking, with all of the shades of church history surrounding JS and how could he have came up with BOM? I struggle with whenever it is real or not. Also with the fact that he translated from a hat and the witnesses only saw covered “golden plate”. All of the symptoms surrounding JS are classical signs of bipolar manic phases. Hansel wrote “the messiah” n 26 days while he was manic. I am bipolar myself and I know how the mind goes when one is in manic phase. When the mind is in a manic phase, the energy is boundless, sex impulsiveness ( polygramy?), mind takes on a whole new level of counciousness with flow of knowledge ( that is why bipolar people try to learn as much as they can in this phase because the mind can learn ANYTHING) and creative is very high and such. Maybe thats how it all happened? He went manic as a child and saw the first vision and angels later? Delusions are common. Or maybe God used his manic for a greater purpose? What do you guys think?
The church has a system of who becomes the next prophet after BY if my memory serves me right, so it is more of a systemic thing now.
Thoughts?
I would have no problem accepting that Joseph had some kind of condition we would diagnose and medicate now. Whether that is bi-polar or something else – or nothing else – I have no idea, but it makes a lot of sense. I also believe it doesn’t diminish his role of prophet in any way if it’s true.
Janes now wrote:Maybe thats how it all happened? He went manic as a child and saw the first vision and angels later? Delusions are common. Or maybe God used his manic for a greater purpose?
It does make you wonder, doesn’t it?
I have dealt with bipolar in my family, and other brain based conditions…and have also seen some similarities like you mentioned, including hallucinations, involving deceased relatives and Jesus Christ appearing in the hospital to family members committed on suicide watch. When medication and therapy balance the brain’s chemicals, these have gone away. From the outside watching this…it appeared clear to me these were not Godly experiences, but sickness. But to the person it happened to…it was an incredible experience in a time of great pain and confusion. Who is to say?
And yet…could those hallucinations be something that teach us still, or do we choose to dismiss them outright? The messages were about love and support and making changes in their lives to come closer to Christ. To me, it seems probable it is due to their conscience speaking to them from teachings that were buried in the back of their mind only to be retrieved in the manic phase, manifesting in a hyper state, similar to other hyper-activities they were displaying at the time.
Handel’s Messiah, Joseph Smith’s Book of Mormon…they might be considered masterpieces by some that bless our lives, even if we don’t understand the source of their origin.
My only reservation on Joseph (and in reading Rough Stone Rolling and other sources), is that he was revered by many, not always dismissed outright as a looney. So perhaps he was a high functioning person with these “gifts” that unlocked the brain, but he certainly did some remarkable things with the time he had here on earth. However it happened, could it not still be from God?
For sure in the past, the things of the brain and medical science that was not understood hundreds of years ago were considered “mysteries” and often given to things hoped for but not seen (faith), and God(s) became the origin to many things that today we understand better.
I would be careful in making such a retrospective diagnosis. First of all, diagnosis of such disorders is not always straightforward. If you’ve followed at all the revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, you’ll see that there is a great deal of disagreement over how to conceptualize mental disorders much less diagnose them. If you simply google “DSM V controversy”, you’ll see what I mean. Even your own personal experience of a disorder may not adequately reflect what others are going through. I read an article where the authors presented a chart with historical figures they suspect experienced seizures. One of the individual listed was Joseph Smith who was supposed to have temporal lobe seizures which are often associated with religious or spiritual experiences (Joan of Arc was another person on this list). Look here: http://www.amazon.com/Inside-Mind-Joseph-Smith-Psychobiography/dp/1560851252 My own personal feeling is that, irrespective of his psychological health, Joseph Smith had some kind of spiritual experience that we’re still trying to make sense of nearly 200 years later.
Gerald wrote:I think you can take the facts of Joseph Smith’s life and make them fit into a number of disorders if you want to.
Well said, Gerald.
Excellent comment, Gerald. Fwiw, I believe much of the wonder of humanity is found at the extremes (both good and bad), and I believe we miss much of the extraordinary in our attempts to suppress “disorders” and normalize everyone. My mom is schizophrenic, so I’m not saying medication for disorders is bad in any way – but I believe strongly there is wonder and beauty that we miss when we stigmatize and reject experiences outside the norm. I also believe people who are willing to live and think outside the box are more likely to receive revelation / inspiration / insight / whatever than those who are locked more tightly in to logic alone – even as I value logic highly and want it to balance the illogical.
“Study it out in my heart AND mind” is a standard I really like – and it’s quintessentially Mormon.
It is medically unethical, and wrong in other ways, to diagnose someone without meeting them. Joseph Smith has been branded with many psychological diagnoses, some of which are quite different from one another. I agree, Sam – which is why I would never claim to have insight into any particular condition Joseph might have had. Otoh, as I said, I do believe he might have had some kind of condition that we now would diagnose and medicate. Those are two different statements, and I personally am fine with the second one, even as I agree completely with you.
I’m with Ray on this to a degree, with my own thoughts of recalling back to graduate school and practicing mental health for a short time before leaving for a different career path (nearly a decade ago) a Bipolar Axis disorder of any kind does not work for me because of the highly organized nature of the Book of Mormon and it’s subsequent following being among the most structured of world religions today. You would instead expect to see disjointed and scattered thoughts, impulsive and destructive leadership decisions… many undoing any advances the added energy and creativity manic periods granted him. And yes, quantitatively many more than the few legitimately very poor life decisions we discuss here periodically. Also, where are the depressive phases in JS life…. the crash after the manic phases that are known to be inevitable whenever the “brain engine” is running so fast for so long? No biological free lunches is something most medical and mental health professionals agree on. Bottom line, bipolar even when presented as high functioning is a major handicap for those that suffer from it chronically, not an advantage in the long term in any way, in my opinion. Brigham Young and his organizational skills cannot account for Josephs early leadership on two separate mass moves to different states, Zions Camp, School of the Prophets, Council of 50, organized international missionary effort Etc. Others in the past have hypothesized like Janes Now about a disorder diagnosis but usually with PTSD (traumatic leg surgery at early age, alcoholic father and mother that may of had mental health issues herself? ) could be more in line with a mental health explanation but the budding field of understanding PTG (post traumatic growth) may be the most plausible of any explanations, which does not eliminate the possibility Joseph was divinely led, perhaps it made him more in tune to receive mystic or prophetic experiences? Old-Timer wrote:“Study it out in my heart AND mind” is a standard I really like – and it’s quintessentially Mormon.
And there is very little of the opposite: “because I said so.”
In fact Joseph Smith goes out of his way by not wanting people to be “trammelled” by his doctrine.
Even the, somewhat unpalatable, angel with a flaming sword justification for asking a plural wife prospect to be sealed to him left her with the final choice. Non of his wives say “he forced me to,” (though I can see how some might point to that being emotional blackmail).
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